Mysterious ghost orchid

The Dawna Range was in dry season in March but in between the parched landscapes there were pockets of oases fed by mountain streams. Stepping into this dark worlds, one of the first thing we saw was the ghost orchid....Epipogium roseum

This is a strange leafless orchid that has flower spikes rising straight out from a longish tuber. They are fungi associated with the tubers that help to digest the leaf litter and provide food for the plant. 

Unlike its cousin, Epipogium aphylla, which has larger and more rosy flowers to attract insects, this species is mostly self-pollinating, as the tiny rosetellum is unable to separate the pollens falling into its own stigma. Another abnomality: most small terrestrial orchids would have an upright fruit capsules in order to disperse the seeds as far as possible but this species has a drooping one which means the seeds will drop next to the parent. Nevertheless, its methods have proven to be quite successful as it is widespread in the old tropics, from West Africa, down to Indian Peninsula, Indo-China, Thailand, Philippines, New Guinea and Australia. One can understand why they do not need the picky insects.

Many pictures in the internet showed the flowers past their prime, which is a bit unfair. The fully opened flower is quite elegant, though rather bloodless. It actually reminds me of another pale leafless plant with a common name of Ghost plant or Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora) below....which I found in New Brunswick many years ago. Unlike the orchid though, this one is parasitic on a fungus, which means the fungus did not benefit from the association.

Pokey

Strange spiky fungi deep in the primary forest.
Any ID ?

Didymoplexiella ornata - the hidden orchid.

It was the onset of rainy season in November and these tiny leafless orchids were blossoming in the dark damp forest floor.   They were not easy to spot but apparently they were so abundant that once we spotted the first and had our senses trained, the rest seemed to emerge miraculously - the pale flower appearing like beacon from the sea of brown leaf litter. 

 

It is not an easy plant to find - not because its rare but because being leafless and unable to perform photosynthesis, the plant exists only as a subterranean tuber most of the time. One can only be certain of its whereabout when it flowers. It derived its nutrients from a network of fungal mycelia which surround and infiltrate the tuber. In turn, the fungi obtained nutrients by breaking down organic matter at the leaf litter.  This mode of parasitic relationship with the fungi is known as myco-heterotrophy.

There are 8 species in  this genus but Didymoplexiella ornata is the only species found in Malaysia and Singapore.

As you can see in the closeups, there are a couple of "spurs" flanking the column and this differentiate this genus from the closely related but more elusive Didymoplexis which is also found in this region.

Cup fungus Cookeina

We came across this small colourful fungus a few times in the forests, always in very damp wood or logs. According to R.N. Weinstein, there are 7 species of Cookeina distributed in subtropical and tropical regions worldwide although a couple more have been since his paper in 2002.

This particular one, a dream for photographers, appeared to be C. sulcipes and is widely distributed in tropical Americas, Africa and Asia. It is an edible species and efforts are made to farm them as we speak. The spores are located inside the "cups" - or apothecium for purists - and are released in one go upon maturity. Someone actually counted that 3-24 million spores are released each time from an apothecium !

The colour can be variable - we found a paler variety shown below in Johore.

Male bloom of Balanophora fungosa ssp. indica

Balanophora is an interesting but obscure genus of flowering plants consisiting of no more than 20 species of root parasites distributed in the tropical old world. This particular species is widespread from SE India to SE Asia and Australia and may in fact be more commonly reported if not for the fact that it is not visible unless in flower. Its vegetative part consist of subterranean tubers with hausterias attaching to its hosts from which it derived its nourishment. Unlike Rafflesias, it is not very picky with hosts - large lianas and trees from Fabaceae (Pea family), Figs, Ilex (Holly), Cissus (from grape family) and Syzygium (Myrtle family) are known targets.

This plant has 2 subspecies, ssp. fungosa has male and female flowers on the same inflorescence while the one pictured here, ssp. indica, bears only flower of either sex but not both.

The confounding thing about botany terminology is that it then goes to classify the unisex plant as "dioecious" while the plant with both sexes is "monoecious". Hmmmm...

Total control freak

While trekking in northern Johore, we stopped by to examine a body by the side of the stream....


It belonged to the Giant Forest Ant (Camponotus gigas), one of the largest species of ant in the world, reaching close to 3cm.

Infected by an Ophiocordyceps fungus (O. unilateralis or similar) and banished from its nest, it was brainwashed to climb to a higher staging area and anchor itself by biting on the leaf blade of a lallang. Here, it was summarily executed - fruiting bodies punched through the exoskeleton like Howitzer-guns, ready to fire spores which eventually fall to the ground to infect passing victims.

Interestingly, in spite of the fact that the spores mostly make contact with the host on the ground, Camponotus leonardi, a tree dweller, was found to be the principal host in Thailand. I would have assume that this terrestrial giant forest ant would be a more suitable host.

Researchers had reported very surprising things about this fungus, like the fact that the it is very exact in its manoeuvre - dead ants invariabily face northwest, about 25 cm from the ground at sites with at least 90% humidity. Strangely, if the ant is allowed to die in its nest, the survival rate of the fungus is zero. Though it turns vital organs of the ant to mush, it also protects its turf by growing into the cracks and niches of the exoskeleton to prevent entry of microbes competing for its food and fortress.

Isn't it weird that a lowly organism can so brilliantly take over the body and psyche of such a complex (relatively speaking) animal ?

References :
D.P.Hughes et al, The Life of a Dead Ant: The Expression of an Adaptive Extended Phenotype. The American Naturalist, V173, no3 September 2009.
D.P.Hughes et al, Graveyards on the Move: The Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Dead Ophiocordyceps-Infected Ants PDF
Also search for the brilliant BBC footage with commentary by my fav Sir David Attenborough
Here's my previous post of this subject - which infected a fly in Singapore.

Knee Jerk

A public outcry....and an administration bent against going out on a limb stretched its long arms of the law to recoup monies it had ceremoniously but unthinkingly gave out previously.... ....meanwhile, these red larvae of an Erythraeid mite are harvesting the Harvestman (Oppiliones).
Well, they are only doing what they are brought up to do ....

Death at Calamus Avenue

A gruesome murder along the jungle trail....

Synopsis of crime : The accused is a species of Cordyceps, a parasitic fungus, that had infected a blow fly some days/weeks back. Slowly, its mycelial filaments had spread into the internal organs and suck the fly dry. But the depleted zombie fly must complete one last act before it was allowed to RIP . By not injesting the vital muscles for movement and manipulating the nervous system of its host, the fungus drove the fly to stagger towards the direction of bright light, in this case an elevated stem of a Rattan (Calamus sp), before pulling the final trigger, destroying the brain and locking its host eternally in a characteristic rigor mortis with limbs and wings outstretched. In this way, its fruiting body, which then sprout from the cadaver as shown in the photo, will be unhindered and free to release the spores at a high and exposed location to effect greatest distribution of its progeny.

Verdict: Guilty of murder and body snatching.

While many may be familiar with the expensive Chinese panacean Cordyceps sinensis, there are actually more than 400 species of this mostly tropical insect-eating fungi. This one is found in Catchment area in Singapore

Post note: The Cordyceps appear to be Ophiocordyceps dipterigena. I had initially thought that the host was a bee.

A Curious parasite - Aeginetia indica

Beside a swampy trail just under the shade of tall lallang, we found this interesting holoparasite which grow on roots of grasses (Cyperales and Graminales). This relative of the broomrape is found throghout East Asia.